Which Finlandia ?

sorry undeletable mistaken edit ignore.

I don't know the piece at all (though I do have a copy by Kamu and the Helsinki Philharmonic sitting on my 'to be listened to' shelf).

Personally, I don't think I've heard much to touch Colin Davis's Sibelius (especially his recent LSO Live 3rd symphony which is absolutely wonderful). He hasn't yet covered Finlandia in his current cycle but his early RCA recordings with the same orchestra (which gets a gets a rave write-up in the penguin guide) includes it both on a 7 disc set (with all the symphonies and orchestral stuff) and on a single disc with various other odds and ends.

regards, Tam

Thanks for that Tam, Finlandia is a nice piece, which has a strong appeal with the natives. (Especially this weekend as Finland plays Sweden tomorrow for Olympic ice-hockey gold. Imagine Scotland-England in the World Cup football final and you'll get the sense of it.)

cheers
Ian

Dear Ian,

This is a real bit of grand national tub thumping for Finland by Sibelius, at a time when it lived (with good reason as it would show during his lifetime) in a good deal of fear of its great Eastern neigbour.

Bit like our Land Of Hope And Glory. It is almost impossible not to get it right, but I would suggest you investigate one of (Finish) Bis recordings. They have top rank orchestras in Finland, and it is surprising how many Finish conductors go out into the world and make fine reputtations and both nice people and very sensitive musicians. I find it quite difficult to recomend my favourite as it is deleted, and was last avalible in a 5 CD set containning the Seven Symphonies: Halle/ Sir John Barbirolli on EMI (nla).

Good hunting from Fredrik

Fredrik,

The EMI Barbirolli set is still available (or, at least, Amazon has it in stock.... and it's still in the penguin guide so....)

regards, Tam

Not a favourite conductor per se, I found Von Karajan's Sibelius to be fine. You should have no difficulty finding his Finlandia...if you can find it coupled with his superb "Der Schwan von Tuonela" so much the better!

Good luck.

Dear Tam,

Any one with the money who loves Sibelius should go and buy it then! It is unique, and a most valid reading, to place beside Kajanus, Kousevitsky, Beecham, Berglund, Davis, and Karajan, let alone a host of younger Finns, who get the music so right!

Ian, I promise you that it will not disappoint you if you can stomach buying the whole lot at once!

All the best from Fredrik

Buy Button pressed again - This is turning out to be an expensive day - I already bought 3 CD's this morning and this makes 8 disks!

Coincidently I have on vinyl the Barbirolli/Halle of Symph. nr 2. already (picked for 50p when the Music club where I used to work decided in their wisdom to go to only cd. Their loss was my gain 30 nice LPs to explore for £15). It's a lovely piece.

Amazon should be paying you guys commission!

cheers


Ian

Dear Ian,

Which is more important? The CDS3 that got away or the music?! You know the answer!

all the best from Fredrik

Also consider Esa-Pekka Salonen as a conductor. He's doing great things with the local LA Phil. He records with a Finnish Phil and has a really nice clean contemporary sound. Iv'e heard him conduct Finlandia here, it's magnificent.

Glenn

Dear Glenn,

You and the LA Phil are luck to have Salonen! Fredrik

All,

There's also a nice set with Ashkenazy and the Phliharmonia. I didn't pay much for it, but it's currently about £26 on Amazon. Link here.

Really nice performances, and includes almost evertyhing you could want, including the fiddle concerto, all the symponies and a good selection of the tone poems.

The first symphony I ever played, as a young (and very green) horn player was Sibelius 5. I've still got a very soft spot for it. Frightened the hell out of me when I was about thirteen though!! My music teacher gave me a record of Bernstein/NYPO doing it - memory tells me it was amazing, but I haven't heard it for years...

Kevin

I've got the Bernstein/NYPO cycle (though it doesn't include Finlandia) and it's pretty good, though not a patch on the recent Davis recordings. DG recently rereleased Bernstein's VPO recordings (he never completed the cycle); while I'm a big fan of Bernstein, these recordings are pretty terrible and a long way from being among his finest.

regards, Tam

Tam

Point taken about the VPO recordings - I've never heard them.

It's funny though how attached we become to the first recordings we know of something...I may well get the NYPO recording of 5 anyway, purely for sentimental value. I'm sure you'll agree that Sibelius 5 was not a bad way for young fella to start playing the horn!!

Oh - don't get me wrong - the NYPO recordings are good, I enjoyed them very much, I just think there are finer ones out there. And yes, must have been a great introduction to playing.

I agree about the way one gets attached to the first recording one hears - I'm like that with the Kempff reading of Beethoven's 4th concerto - so much so that almost any other recording just sounds wrong.

regards, Tam